Police considered pig experiment in Melissa Caddick investigation

Detectives investigating the disappearance of the Sydney conwoman considered throwing pig carcasses fitted with tracking devices into the ocean to test shark behaviour.

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Sydney con­woman Melissa Caddick considered throwing dead pigs fitted with tracking devices, some wearing running shoes, into the ocean as part of an ­experiment.

The decomposing foot of Caddick, who went missing owing up to $30m to investors, was found on Bournda Beach, near Tathra, on the NSW south coast about five months after she went missing in November 2020.

The inquest into the probable death of Caddick on Thursday heard NSW police forensics teams had considered putting tracking devices on pig carcasses as part of an experiment to test shark behaviour.

When junior counsel assisting, Louise Coleman, asked ­Detective Sergeant Steven Morgan from the missing person squad, who was appointed as a consultant on the investigation in March 2021, if the pig experiment took place, he answered “I don’t know”.

Caddick disappeared the day after her $15m home was raided by investigators from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and Australian Federal Police after she allegedly ran a Ponzi scheme.

Detective Inspector Gret­chen Atkins, who oversees investigations in the eastern suburbs, said she was surprised it took more than three months from Caddick’s disappearance before police received a 92-page affidavit from the corporate watchdog detailing the fraud allegations.

Inspector Atkins said in the week after Caddick disappeared, from November 13 to November 20, 2021, she thought it most ­likely the conwoman had gone to ground or committed suicide. “I would not have been surprised if we had been able to locate Ms Caddick [or] if she walked into a police station and said I’m Melissa Caddick,” she said.

“At the same time, if we had unfortunately found her body at the bottom of the cliff, I wouldn’t have been surprised.”

Inspector Atkins stressed she wanted all possibilities, including that Caddick had been harmed by someone, investigated at the time and there were issues with the timeline of the 49-year-old’s disappearance.

The inquest heard Caddick held a life insurance policy that included a payout if she died in the event of suicide that was discovered in July 2021, eight months after she disappeared.

Inspector Atkins said there were “alarm bells” about Caddick’s disappearance, including that she didn’t have her phone or access to money, but the investigation into her disappearance did not require assistance from the homicide squad.

The inquest continues.